First of all thanks for the info on the Tornado. I know a Mirage was downed over former Yugoslavia, but I wasn’t sure which type it was.
Well now, for straters I don’t agree with the weapons choice being an advantage of the Tornado.
the M2k can carry “all major dumb munitions, such as iron bombs, Belouga cluster bombs, Durandal runway breaker bombs, BAP 100 and BAP 120 clusters, Matra 68 millimeter rocket pods, and cannon pods.”
The M2k can carry a wide range of laser guided weapons, like the US and French LGB (yes paveways too…), and AS30L laser guided missile, selfdesignating the target with ATLIS or PDLCTS pods.
It can fire the ARMAT anti radar missile (here I’d add that with it’s latest defensive suite, the M2k is ELINT capable as all signals can be recorded and analysed after the mission is over).
It can fire the Exocet anti ship missile, with the addition of a few radar mods (read it’s not in service with the Adl’A, but it’s a possibility for export versions if needed).
The latest versions of the M2KD (R2), can carry the Apache and Scalp EG (Storm Shadow?) missiles, as well as the future AASM (modular air to ground armamaent) GPS quided bombs, which has been test fired already (and one thermal imaging aided version)).
I think that’s not too shabby even if the weapon load isn’t quite that of the Tornado. I agree about the lack of a gun though, but a twin 30mm gun pod can be carried if the 2000D is ever needed in the CAS role. I doubt this would be likely to happen however, but hey… it can carry nukes :diablo:
Considering the Speed, I am not so sure that the Tornado is faster than the M2kD. M2kD max speed is Mach 1.4, Tornado GR4 max speed is 1.3. Not much of a difference there, but it will mostly come down to drag in my opinion. And more weapons will necessarily mean more drag :p
Avionics-wise, lets have a little summary:
– Fly-by-wire system, 2 inertial navigation systems, Thomson-CSF Antilope 5 terrain following radar, Icare digital map, integrated GPS, fully integrated countermeasures suite, laser designation pod with thermal camera (PDL-CT)
I think it’s on par with anything the Tornado has, except maybe for a smaller radar antenna. However, since it’s no AtoA radar, I’m not sure it is a big issue at all. Also, adding to the Short size of the Mirage, and it’s delta wing, efforts have been made to further reduce it’s RCS, as evidenced by the gold layer on the cockpit. I would say that it is a good advantage compared to the bulkier swing wing tornado.
No argument when it comes to range, according to some sites :
Tornado: Radius of action: 1390 km (750 NM) with heavy load, hi-lo-lo-hi
Mirage 2000: 1,000 nm (1,850 km) w/2 1,700-liter drop tanks
That said, the M2kD carries less fuel than the single seaters, and I’m not sure whether this data comes for single a two seater variants. However, special 2000l fuel tanks were created for the 2kN and 2kD to further increase range.
Nic
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